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Presents information related to a smouldering dispute in the computer industry. Details of the clash over Intel Corp's increasing encroachment into the PC maker's market; Explains that Compaq was one of the few big PC makers that were still profitable, and the only one making money in the booming; Reveals that to stay ahead of its competition, Intel reckons it must release a new microprocessor generation.

The article discusses how the microprocessor company Intel is coping with competition from smaller companies. Intel's stranglehold on the supply of microprocessors for use in IBM-compatible personal computers has proved lucrative. The firm's 486DX microprocessor, a chip found in the most powerful desktop PCs, sells for over $300, but costs about $20 to make. Those sort of numbers have attracted competitors into a market which, until 1990, Intel had to itself. The most noticeable part of Intel's response to this competitive threat has been a slew of lawsuits. While it ties up its rivals in the courts, Intel is also using the $750 million it will spend this year on R&D to race ahead of them. The firm's new Pentium chip will be three times faster than its predecessor.

The article discusses the recent trend of the computer industry celebrating the anniversaries of various product innovations. The five-year-anniversary of the iPod was celebrated in the autumn of 2006, by newspapers from around the world giving tributes to the music player. At the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California, a symposium was held to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Intel's 4004 microprocessor.

This article reports on the ongoing rivalry between computer chip-makers Intel and AMD. Intel was long the leader but a certain amount of complacency set in and AMD was innovative enough to exploit them. But Intel slashed costs and introduced the first four-core chips ahead of schedule, and more importantly, ahead of AMD.